A project to examine classic comics that could soon be entering public domain

Indiana Public Media reports the state university's Luddy School is working on a study project for older comics:

Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering and Michigan State University are collaborating on a project that will create digital scholarly editions for early American comic books.

It’s a two-year project funded through a $65,000 award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. IU Luddy professor and the project’s lead researcher John Walsh said this project is for creating prototype editions. This will allow them to document the process, have a manual and have a prototype web system for the next phase.

When this project is completed, they will apply for a full implementation grant to start building and publishing five to six scholarly editions of early American comic books. This project and the following one will take five years. Walsh said if all goes well they could continue their work, which will be available to the public. [...]

Focusing on early American comic books is because many of them will be entering the public domain with their copyright expiring in the next five to 10 years. The motivation is also the cultural history and significance early comics have. [...]

There are several genres of comics: children comics, romance comics, science fiction comics, war comics, superhero comics and more.

For example, many war comics were created by writers and artists who served in the military in World War II, or other wars, so understanding that aspect can help readers understand the significance of the content in the comics, Walsh said.

History of subjects like these could help new generations learn why they were considered so important in their time, and a serious focus is needed in comics on why communism was considered a bad ideology in the past century, what its totalitarian structure led to, and why it's still a serious problem today. Why, even the early James Bond films could make a great learning source for modern students, since they tackled the Cold War themes of the times, and when Stan Lee launched Marvel's Silver Age, he also wrote up metaphors for communism, as did some DC contributors of the times.

And on the subject of creations entering public domain, I hope there'll be good people who're willing to develop stories with entertainment and educational value when the time comes. After all the misuse in the past quarter century at the Big Two, when their products enter public domain, it'll be a blessing.